Smart card transaction system and encoder-dispenser
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for writing data to and dispensing integrated circuit chip cards, said apparatus comprising:
- an enclosure having a card dispensing slot;
a money acceptor that receives money and provides a signal representing the amount of the received money;
a chute mounted within said enclosure for holding a stack of a plurality of the integrated circuit chip cards such that an integrated circuit chip on each card faces toward a first end of the stack;
a write head mounted within said enclosure and located adjacent the first end of the stack of cards;
a control responsive to and connected to said money acceptor for receiving the signal indicating said amount of money received and for directing said write head to write the signal indicating the amount of money received on the integrated circuit chip of a leading card positioned at the first end of the stack; and
a card dispenser for dispensing the leading card through said card dispensing slot and sequentially positioning a following card in the stack so that its integrated circuit chip is disposed adjacent to said write head.
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Abstract
The disclosed apparatus is a stand alone integrated smart card circuit chip card vending machine. It accepts bills in $1, $5, $10, $20 and $50 denominations and/or credit cards and issues stored value smart cards for the value requested. It can also telephone a center to validate credit card transactions or send diagnostic and statistical reports. This invention has the capability to read and write to a card while it is in the dispenser stack, therefore the card has no value while in the dispenser and is not released until payment is received, that is, the cards are encoded in real time before they are issued.
175 Citations
28 Claims
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1. Apparatus for writing data to and dispensing integrated circuit chip cards, said apparatus comprising:
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an enclosure having a card dispensing slot; a money acceptor that receives money and provides a signal representing the amount of the received money; a chute mounted within said enclosure for holding a stack of a plurality of the integrated circuit chip cards such that an integrated circuit chip on each card faces toward a first end of the stack; a write head mounted within said enclosure and located adjacent the first end of the stack of cards; a control responsive to and connected to said money acceptor for receiving the signal indicating said amount of money received and for directing said write head to write the signal indicating the amount of money received on the integrated circuit chip of a leading card positioned at the first end of the stack; and a card dispenser for dispensing the leading card through said card dispensing slot and sequentially positioning a following card in the stack so that its integrated circuit chip is disposed adjacent to said write head. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. Apparatus for writing data to and dispensing a plurality of integrated circuit chip cards, each of the integrated circuit chip cards having at least one data exchange element disposed on a first surface of the card, said apparatus comprising:
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an enclosure having a card dispensing slot; a chute having first and second ends mounted within said enclosure and for receiving through said first end a plurality of integrated circuit chip cards and for arranging the plurality of the cards into a stack thereof so that the first surface of each of the integrated circuit chip cards is oriented toward said first end of said chute; a write head mounted within said enclosure and including at least one data exchange element disposed toward the first surfaces of the plurality of cards arranged into the stack, the relative dimensions of each of the cards and of the chute, and the relative placement of the data exchange element of each of the cards and said data exchange element of said write head being determined so that the data exchange element of the card disposed at the first end of the stack is disposed in a data exchange relationship with said data exchange element of said write head, whereby said data exchange element of said write head may write data to the card disposed at the first end of the stack; and a card dispenser for dispensing a leading card from said first end of said chute through said card dispensing slot and sequentially positioning a following card in the stack so that its integrated circuit chip is disposed at said first end of said chute. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. The method of operating a card dispenser to receive money and to repeatedly dispense from a stack of a plurality of integrated circuit chip cards a lead card of the stack, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) determining the value of the received money; b) initializing the lead card; c) writing the value of the received money to the integrated circuit chip of the lead card; and d) after step c), dispensing the lead card. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification